Welcome to my writers blog.

The Love of Dance

Sunday, 14 June 2015

What a busy week, both at work, in my social life and in my
writing, but slightly less so. One of the great things about being a writer, is
that you get to go out and experience life with friends and family at the same
time of absorbing life going on around you.

I'm sure I am not the only writer who observes, absorbs situations
and stores away little snippets to use in my work. Many of those I have watched
sneak in to my work, but not as they are first seen but I take mannerisms from different
people I observe, develop them and create a completely new character. You have
to make sure you don’t overdo these characteristics so that you don’t change
your character into a caricature, instead of being a rounded, flawed or even eccentric
person. You can do this with people, venues, conversations and behaviours. Your
job as a writer is blend all these things together so that your reader,
recognises them and can relate to their situations. Not easy, but is a great challenge
and when done correctly becomes the character driven novels, we, as readers,
love to read.

So the next time you
are sitting in the office, having a cup of tea in a café or taking your grandchild
to the park, don’t forget to see what is going on around you. You might just
find that missing character that will make your novel sensational.

For this week’s writing task look at the image below, think
about what each person is doing and what might be happening for them. Then
select one and write the scene from their point of view (POV). Try writing
around 500 words and then choose a second, and maybe third person from the
image and write the same scene from their POV. Each character should see
things, feel things and think in different ways from the others previously.
Remember we can only see what your character sees – stay on track.